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Mr. Gao wrote three open letters to regime leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao in 2005 condemning the brutal suppression of Falun Gong in China. In late 2006, he was charged with “attempting to subvert state power” and sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year suspension.
On March 16, British Secretary David Miliband questioned Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Gao. Yang said only that Gao Zhisheng was “imprisoned on charges of subversion.” The next day, a BBC report revealed that Gao Zhisheng had had a phone call with his brother Gao Zhiyi.
Prominent Chinese lawyer Guo Guoting, who now lives in Canada, commented on the charge that the Chinese Foreign Minister mentioned. He said that this charge—subversion—would not hold even under current Chinese law.
“The charge that the Chinese Foreign Minister referred to must have been the ruling in 2006, which was a suspended sentence,” Guo said. A suspended sentence would indicate he was on probation and not required to serve in prison. Thus, it would be illegal for the Chinese regime to imprison him or covertly kidnap him to a secret location “unless the court officially changed the sentence.”
Such a change in ruling did not occur, Guo said, adding that the Chinese regime is openly violating its own legal system.
“Forced disappearance such as this is an international crime; that is, national courts from every country all have universal jurisdiction. In 2008, there was a particular international convention in this regard, a convention regarding forced disappearance which also applies to this crime,” Guo said.
Guo thinks that the regime was forced to disclose some information about Mr. Gao in order to quell the anger of the international community. The CCP would not dare to go against the entire international community, he said, because it relies on foreign markets to sustain its economic development. Thus, Mr. Guo hopes the international community will continue to pressure the CCP regarding Gao Zhisheng.
Read the original Chinese article.
